Women in Iraq

Iraq is a country where women are degraded and are treated as second citizens so to many it would be no surprise that since the topple of Sadam Hussein's regime that Iraq has become a hotspot for sexual trafficking. "Nobody knows exactly how many Iraqi women and children have been sold into sexual slavery since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003." However, according to experts this is actually regression, because despite the fact Iraq is not known for its wonderful treatment of women it was a society that valued a women's virginity and did its best to protect it. Now, with a whole new line of mother pimps, daughters are being sold at extremely young ages. The youngest victims, some ages 11 and 12, are sold for as much as $30,000, while others can go for as little as $2,000. "The buying and selling of girls in Iraq, it's like the trade in cattle," Hinda says. "I've seen mothers haggle with agents over the price of their daughters." Our attempts to create a more free society and boost the rights of women is being met with extreme and even intensified anti-women sentiments. The result has been a sexual trafficking route starting in Iraq and spreading throughout other parts of the middle east in countries such as Jordan and Syria. Its an interesting turn of events considering one of our goals in our invasion of Iraq was to alleviated the plight of women in the middle east.